Blake Lively accused of 'super shady' legal move before bombshell allegations

Blake Lively’s explosive sexual harassment allegations against co-star Justin Baldoni have taken a new twist with insiders claiming the actor made a secret legal move to gather evidence before going public.

According to Daily Mail, the Gossip Girl alum quietly filed a lawsuit in September 2024 through her company, Vanzan, in an attempt to subpoena alleged incriminating text messages without her name ever appearing on the record.

The stealth suit, filed against Justin Baldoni’s former PR team, specifically targeted communications from publicist Stephanie Jones and her agency Jonesworks. 

The subpoena reportedly sought internal messages involving Baldoni, Lively, and her husband Ryan Reynolds.

They found alleged messages between Jonesworks staffers including Jennifer Abel and PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan, with one chilling text allegedly reading: “We can bury anyone.”

Lively’s legal team has since cited those texts as proof of a smear campaign against her allegedly orchestrated by Baldoni’s camp while promoting their film It Ends With Us in August 2024.

The hidden lawsuit was quietly withdrawn on December 19, 2024, just days before Lively publicly accused Baldoni of sexual harassment in a complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department.

Attorney Ron Zambrano (not involved in the case) called the tactic “super shady,” telling Daily Mail: “This was done in a clandestine way to obtain subpoena power without oversight.”

Baldoni’s powerhouse lawyer Bryan Freedman also slammed the strategy as a “sham,” adding: “There is nothing normal about this… This was done in bad faith and constitutes a flagrant abuse of process.”

In response, Lively’s legal team fiercely defended the move.

Attorneys Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb told Deadline: “There is nothing untoward here, just conscientious and thorough investigation… Ms. Lively voluntarily disclosed the subpoena in her first filing knowing that it would ultimately be produced.”

They further alleged that Baldoni’s PR allies had a documented plan to “destroy Blake Lively… in a way they thought would be ‘untraceable.’”

Why is Blake Lively suing Justin Baldoni?

Lively has accused Baldoni, along with his publicists, producer Jamey Heath, Wayfarer Studios, and co-founder Steve Sarowitz, of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign to tarnish her reputation.

Lively officially filed her sexual harassment complaint on December 21, 2024, followed by a formal lawsuit on December 31. Baldoni has denied all allegations.

In a major escalation, Baldoni filed a $400 million countersuit in January against Lively and Reynolds, which the couple is now fighting to dismiss.

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